The invention relates to a protective screen for a brake disc.
The invention also relates to an assembly for the rotary connection of a wheel to a road vehicle, including such a screen.
Such an assembly includes a pivot support, intended to be mounted on the vehicle, a bearing module and, arranged between them, a protective screen also called a mud screen. The bearing module is intended to receive a wheel and, interposed between it and this bearing module, a brake disc which the protective screen has the function of protecting.
A first solution for the assembly of these elements consists of clamping together the pivot support, the protective screen and the bearing module by means of axial screws. As, in this arrangement, the pivot support and the bearing module do not bear directly one against the other, the protective screen being interposed between them, the precision with which the respective axes of the pivot support and the bearing module are aligned with each other is reduced. Now, where the bearing module is intended to receive a wheel supporting a road vehicle, this precision has particular importance. Also, certain motor vehicle manufacturers reject this first solution.
A second solution consists of clamping the pivot support and the bearing module directly against each other, the protective screen being mounted separately on the pivot support, either by means of additional screws, or by being force fitted on a surface machined on one of these pieces.
Compared with the first solution, this second solution requires additional operations, namely in one case the drilling of the holes intended to receive the screws for fixing the protective screen and the screwing or bolting of these, or, in the other case, the machining of a surface and the force fitting of the protective screen. Such operations consume time and use machines. Consequently, they have a cost, as do the additional screws used in one of these two cases to fix the protective screen.
The invention therefore has the aim of reducing the number of operations and/or the number of components necessary to mount a protective screen on an assembly in which a bearing module and a pivot support are assembled by direct clamping one against the other.
To this end, the invention has as its object a protective screen for a brake disc of a road vehicle, comprising an annular plate intended to be associated with a pivot support and a bearing module for mounting a wheel of the vehicle, characterised by the fact that it includes at least one elastic organ for holding by compression in an axial gap between the pivot support and the bearing module, present after clamping of the bearing module on the pivot support.
In accordance with other characteristics:
the central part of the screen is flat with the exception of the elastic organ which moves progressively away from the plane of this central part;
the elastic organ is formed of a flexible strip defined by the edge of a central opening in the protective screen and by two slots opening into the said central opening;
the elastic organ is formed by a projection of the material of the screen;
it includes two radial pressure tongues associated with the elastic organ and each arranged on one side of this elastic organ;
it includes a plurality of elastic organs distributed around the central opening in the plate;
it is formed by pressing a thin metal sheet.
The invention also has as its object an assembly for the rotary connection of a wheel to a road vehicle, including a pivot support intended to be mounted on the vehicle and a bearing module intended to receive a brake disc and the wheel, the pivot support and the bearing module being assembled by direct clamping of the one to the other, characterised by the fact that it includes a protective screen of the type defined above, at least two surfaces, each forming a jaw, situated on the pivot support and on the bearing module respectively defining together, after direct clamping of the bearing module onto the pivot support, a clamp for clamping and holding the elastic organ of the protective screen.
In accordance with other characteristics:
the said jaws bear one on the flat central part and the other on the elastic organ of the said screen;
the bearing module has an axial centring block housed in an axial bore of complementary form, formed in the pivot support and the assembly includes a plurality of clamps each clamping a corresponding elastic organ of the said protective screen;
the end surfaces of the said radial pressure tongues, each forming a centring organ, are applied to the peripheral surface of the centring block in various locations distributed around this;
the jaws of the said at least one clamp are situated the one in the plane of clamping by direct contact of the pivot support and of the bearing module and the other offset relative to this clamping plane;
the central opening includes notches for the passage of bosses, which are either formed on the pivot support and clamped directly onto the bearing module, or formed on the bearing module and clamped directly onto the pivot support.